Does media over-hype the weather?

Workers at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City N.J. prepare plywood to cover the ocean-facing windows on Saturday Oct. 27, 2012. Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on New Jersey, and officials feared potentially catastrophic flooding. The casinos will shut down for the storm starting Sunday afternoon.(AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

The headlines scream, the ominous music thrums as the doom-laden graphic declares this week’s storm the “storm of the century” — again.

So how much forewarning is too much?

Any time the media gives a storm a new name — in this case “Frankenstorm” — it begs the question, is the coverage an attempt to grab ratings; or an earnest attempt to give fair warning to those who might be endangered?

Yes.

At least that’s what our Facebook readers said.

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Asked if they think the media over-hypes weather stories, particularly before the weather in question arrives, our readers and your neighbors weighed in and said yes we over-hype the weather and yes, we should keep doing it.

But don’t take my word it, here’s an edited compilation of what they said:

• “They should know for a fact that it is going to hit us before they start a panic!” wrote Heather Brunner.

• “Better to be safe than sorry,” responded Cheryl Shinall-Sell.

•“The media makes a big deal out of every thing. It’s kind of your job. Some people care, some don’t. But if you continue to make every thing ‘the next coming of the apocalypse,’ it turns very much into the boy who cried wolf a few to many times,” posted Richard Favinger Jr. of Pottstown. “Sadly, I think we’re already past that point.”

• Scott Speese, also of Pottstown, defended the coverage. “I don’t think it’s over-hyped. It’s better to be prepared than to wait to the last minute, and the funny thing about weather is that there’s no way to know for sure something is going to happen until it does. They’re talking about it possibly causing $1 billion dollars in damages, so how can you not talk about something like that? Even if it happens to drift off into the ocean, that’s great! It gets families talking about emergency preparedness and who knows, maybe they will be ready when something drastic and unexpected happens.”

• “While I agree it’s nice to be safe rather than sorry but the media hype about storms these days is crazy!” posted Stacia Wenhold. “I think they instill fear and panic for a lot of people with ‘too much’ coverage!”

• “The media make a mountain out of a molehill over everything. They do have a gift, that’s for sure,” wrote Patti Healey Marcus.

• “I see it this way. They are giving you worst-case scenarios for a reason, because they could happen,” posted Christina Manning. “If you didn’t know, didn’t get prepared and it was bad (maybe not as bad as worst case) then what? Better safe than sorry. I wouldn’t want to be unprepared.”

• “All I can say is it is better to have some kind of information,” posted Bobby Seasholtz. “Now if you want to prepare for it or not is YOUR choice. IF it does get as bad as predicted and you don’t take it serious, then you only have yourself to blame.”

• “If the media doesn’t say anything, and the storm is severe, people would complain that the media did not do enough,” observed Mike Wilcox.

• “The same people that say it’s ‘Over Hyped’ are probably the same people who complain that they weren’t given enough notice,” posted Shawn Leightcap. “Remember Katrina?”

• “Well I look at it this way ... Katrina hit New Orleans, some of those people didn’t believe the hype and stayed,” wrote Heather Moore. “Some of those who stayed lost their lives. I went to New Orleans six months after Katrina and let me tell you, seeing it first hand was worse then what was on TV. I personally would like to know the facts so I can make an informed decision of what is best for me and my family.”

• “With a Hurricane coming at this kind of magnitude how could you people call this too much hype? Have any of you even seen how large this is? The red zone is now extended as far west as Ohio from our end here,” wrote Teresa Glace Parker. “The meteorologists can’t and haven’t ever had a storm to deal with like this in history. Its up to you to prepare or not. But just remember this, once this arrives it’s here and if you do need help to be rescued, pray, because there won’t be anyone able to get to you. That’s what happened in September with hurricane Irene.”

• Angie Storer remained unconvinced. “By the time it hits land I would be surprised if we get drizzle and a breeze,” she wrote.

• “Generally, yes, the media over-hypes the weather. It gets people’s attention and viewership goes up. They make a huge deal out of tiny little snowstorms that are common place and thunderstorms are now a big deal, too. If we take the weather reports too seriously, we’d never leave our homes again!,” wrote Jennifer Harvey.

But then she added, “on the other hand, I’d rather be over-prepared and then have the storm turn out to be no big deal than to have no idea a big storm may be coming and fail to be prepared.”